PINK'S LESBIAN PARTY

FROM Johnny OKeefe to AC/DC, the Divinyls,
Midnight Oil, Jet and the Drones, Australian music has come a long
way since the Wild One first strutted his stuff 50
years ago.

While some claim that recent technology has
rendered the album obsolete, a team at sister newspaper The
Age believes the best bands are still judged by great
albums.

Australian rocknroll turns 50 on July
5, the anniversary of the release of Johnny OKeefes
The Wild One, and to celebrate The Age
assembled a panel of experts  ranging from Age
critics and music journalists to musicians, broadcasters, record
shop owners and band managers  who undertook the painstaking
task of narrowing down an entire history of music to a micro
list.

The criteria was simply that the albums had to be
made by bands who were predominantly Australian.

The list was contentious from the beginning; we
specified the nominations needed to be what the panellist
considered finest works, rather than favourites.

And it was never going to accurately celebrate five
decades of albums; until the late 1960s, albums were considered
less important than singles. As a phenomenon, it wasnt until
Daddy Cools Daddy Who? Daddy Cool in 1971 that
albums took off. It topped the charts and broke all records by
selling 60,000 copies in its fi rst year.

Three years later Daddy Cool frontman Ross Wilson
was at the forefront again when he produced Skyhooks debut
album Living in the 70s, which ushered in the modern
era of Australian music.

Most of the big guns are there, headed by Midnight
Oil whose 10-1 and Diesel and Dust both landed in
the top 20.

If this poll is any indication, they are this
countrys favourite band and the most uniquely Australian,
proving politics and music can transcend pop.

But perhaps a bands true quality should be
judged not by how high they ranked in this poll, but by how many of
their albums made the cut.

The panel couldnt decide which albums by
AC/DC, Nick Cave, the Go-Betweens, or Paul Kelly to vote for.

And which albums fell through the cracks? It turned
out to be a bloke-heavy, rock-weighty list. While chart toppers
John Farnham, Savage Garden, Australian Crawl and Men at Work
received votes, perhaps their albums were of their time.

Despite his induction into the Hall of Fame, Rolf
Harris epic All Together Now didnt make the
cut. Ditto Russell Crowes 30 Odd Foot of Grunts.

Just as the early years of Australian rock
dont figure prominently on our list, the latter years
struggle for representation as well, with the Drones the only
newish band making the cut. Maybe its just too early to tell
if recent albums have legs and can be considered classics.
Well let you know in another 50 years.

Living in the 70s 
Skyhooks

Maybe you had to be there. Living in the 70s
did not do everything to create a viable and vibrant Australian
music scene, but it did a heck of a lot.

With this album, the local industry took off,
drawing massive crowds to gigs and garnering extensive TV coverage.
Self-consciousness about domestic culture was dispensed with; the
shared suburban experience was elevated and celebrated but never
romanticised. The phenomenon has passed, of course, but the music
remains, with Shirley Strachans high, sassy vocals weaving
through a rococo maze of riffs and stuttering rhythms. The
trailblazer in every sense.

The Ages Shaun Carney

Bee Gees Greatest Hits Vol. 1
 the Bee Gees

In 1977, popular music was changed by two bands
from Brisbane  the Bee Gees and the Saints;
Saturday Night Fever and Stranded. But for
many Australians its the earlier Bee Gees  their first
flush of international hits in 67/68, as represented on
this album  that holds an indelible spell. These songs are
timeless, the voices magical, the arrangements sumptuous, the
economy brutal and the impact still fresh.

Author Clinton Walker

Back in Black 
AC/DC

There are so many great AC/DC albums, and Bon Scott
was a far superior singer to his replacement Brian Johnson, so why
is Johnsons first album Back in Black one of the
biggest-selling albums of all time? From the opening ring of
Hells Bells to the title track  propelled by the
bands greatest riff  and anthemic closer
RocknRoll Aint Noise Pollution, it
screams greatness. The tough, tight production and defiant attitude
helped usher in 80s metal, and then theres the
controversy about whether Scott, not credited here, wrote the
lyrics. Regardless, an astonishing comeback album from a band that
had been on the brink of dissolution.

EGs Patrick Donovan

The Sunnyboys  the
Sunnyboys

Growing up in Rosebud, hanging out at the beach,
discovering boys, looking for music beyond the collections of my
folks and older brothers; it was amid all this I found, and fell in
love with, the Sunnyboys first album. Id sneak in,
underage and overwhelmed, to Frankstons Pier Hotel to hear
the fragile genius of Jeremy Oxley; lightning bolts of bald-faced
teenage honesty, delivered with urgency in jagged pop riffs.
Neither Oxley nor myself are shiny teenagers any more, but that
record remains perfect and timeless.

The Ages Jo
Roberts

Since I Left You  the
Avalanches

Its common for bedroom producers to scour the
history of recorded music to grab bits and pieces and reprocess
their findings into something new.

Its been a central angle in the newest wave
of popular music since the electronic uprising of the late
80s. What they did in 2000 with their fi rst and so far only
album was reset those rules once again. Here was a beautiful piece
of musical art made entirely from samples;

Since I Left You was a jigsaw of Kid Creole, Madonna,
Jimmy Webb, Sergio Mendez, Mandrill, De La Soul and the Osmonds,
stolen and then rearranged by a loose-fit, encyclopedic crew of
musicians into, between them, everything from turntablism to
Hawaiian steel guitars.

The Ages Chris
Johnston

Magic Box  the Loved
Ones

When this record came to me in op-shop tatters I
was absolutely astounded. The hit was high and intense. Fronted by
a raw and emotional Gerry Humphreys, this collection of hit singles
sounds more like a raucous one take album of dirty
Australian soul.

Darren Seltmann, the
Avalanches

Doughboy Hollow  Died
Pretty

The most sublime sound in Australian rock is the
soaring voice of Ronald S. Peno, backed by the guitar of Brett
Myers and the keyboards of Frank Brunetti/John Hoey. Together, as
Died Pretty, they wrote their own rules: a garage band capable of
the sweetest of touches; intense, sonic epics one moment,
pop-driven gems the next; unbeatable live and on record.

The Ages Patrick
Smithers

Hourly, Daily  You Am
I

Tim Rogers gorgeously evocative portrait of
Sydneys inner west and, to an extent, suburban Australia. The
world was seemingly at their feet in 1995/96 but a pile of factors
conspired against them. It is rightly revered in local music
circles as a modern classic.

EGs Andrew Murfett

Wait Long by the River and theBodies of Your
Enemies Will Float By  the Drones

The good bands exist independently of trends and
styles, playing on that magical yet terrifying edge of danger. On
the Drones second album, Gareth Liddiard moves more
completely into the spotlight as singer. Its hugely
passionate music, without a speck of compromise.

EGs Jeff Glorfeld

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 
Midnight Oil

Midnight Oil always had a reputation as a
formidable live act. 10 to 1 was produced by Nick Launay
who had also worked on the Birthday Partys
Junkyard around that time, and was an incredibly ambitious
and creative album laden with great songs  including the
singles US Forces and Power and the Passion.

Label veteran Craig
Kamber

16 Lovers Lane  the
Go-Betweens

Go-Betweens fans argue over which is the
bands best album but, for me, its 16 Lovers
Lane, their sixth. Although they had only modest commercial
success, the songwriting team of the late, great Grant McLellan and
Robert Forster is acclaimed around the world, the pairs
lyricism arguably up there with Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan.

EGs Kylie
Northover

Radios Appear  Radio
Birdman

Dedicated to the Stooges, Radios Appear was
Nuggets-influenced protopunk mixed with lethal does of surf and
psychedelia. Amid the duelling guitars of Deniz Tek and Chris
Masuak and the vocal swagger of Rob Younger was a surprising degree
of melody and memorable hooks. There was going to be a new race.
The kids were gonna start it up. Yeah hup.

Journalist and record label owner Stuart
Coupe

Welcome to Wherever You Are 
INXS

This is the sound of INXS trying to prove that they
can be the greatest rock band in the world. While they were
recording this album, they heard U2s Achtung Baby
and got a serious fright: this album is the result. This is the
last hurrah from one of our finest bands. After this, they lost
it.

Ed St John, head of ARIA and Warner
Music Australia

Post  Paul Kelly

This is the album that saved his career. It centres
around the songs that shaped and defined him hereafter both as a
songwriter and performer.

The stripped-back nature of the record forced on
him at the time is ground zero. Hes writing about us as well
as himself. We know these places hes singing about, as he
takes us from Adelaide to St Kilda to Kings Cross.

Writer Ed Nimmervoll

Hi Fi Way  You Am
I

Its still hard to believe how much You Am I
accomplished with their epochal second album. Vibrant, even
thrilling, in sound, but imbued with melancholic childhood memories
and a sense of coming of age that was idiosyncratically Australian,
Hi Fi Way set a benchmark that hasnt been matched
since.

Journalist Craig
Mathieson

Woodface  Crowded
House

When it was originally released in 1991 I declared
it was the best-ever Australian pop album. For me, only Augie
Marchs Moo, You Bloody Choir has challenged it.
Fall At Your Feet, Weather With You, Four
Seasons In One Day and Its Only Natural are
just four of the highlights on this sparkling collection. Neil
Finns reputation was built here and the bands shows
(with Paul Hester on drums) around this time were fantastic.

Broadcaster and journalist Brian
Wise

Stoneage Romeos  Hoodoo
Gurus

Reckless abandon and sheer fun, Hoodoo Gurus
Stoneage Romeos is one of the great Aussie rock debuts,
capturing the essence of perfect power pop and wild garage punk in
11 far-out songs. And with dedications to cultural icons Larabee,
Larry Storch, Arnold Ziffel the pig and the Three Stooges,
whats more.

Writer Ian McFarlane

Get Born  Jet

Get Born is not only a great debut album
loaded with hit singles, it also affirms that rocknroll
dreams can come true. In 2002 Jet exploded on the scene creating an
international bidding war. Get Born sold more than four
million copies worldwide and the bands success was propelled
even further by iTunes using Are You Going To Be My Girl?
ad nauseam.

Melbourne music scene stalwart Mary
Mihelakos

Five Times the Sun  the
Dingoes

Five Times the Sun exists within its own
mythology. The album art work and, indeed, the title call up the
early-70s images of sun gods living in the sky.

I remember staring for hours at the cover, and
reading the paragraph about the dingo fence over and over. At last
we had some of our own mythology. And our own supergroup.

Musician Dan Warner

Smoke Dreams  Captain Matchbox
Whoopee Band

This is an album of Jug band music played with the
spirit of 70s hippie drug culture. One track, My Canary
Has Circles Under his Eyes, became a hit. Anything was
possible. Smoke Dreams opened the way for older, acoustic
styles of music. These days theyd call it roots
music.

Roots musician Andy
Baylor

Gurrumul  Geoffrey Gurrumul
Yunupingu

Once in a long, long while you feel privileged to
review an album, knowing that nothing you say  let alone a
five-star rating  does justice. This debut solo by the blind
singer-songwriter from Elcho Island, Arnhem Land, is the best thing
Ive heard in years.

The Ages Larry
Schwartz

Tu-Plang 
Regurgitator

When I first discovered Regurgitator, my life
changed. There was Quan playing some toy instrument with heavy
groove backing and occasional ventures into yummy angry metal. It
was funk. It was heavy. It was gritty and it was funny.

Broadcaster Dylan Lewis

Distemper  the New
Christs

A non-stop ride of terrific songs full of melody
and power offset the bleak, venomous lyrics. The tension the
musicians create in each track is spinetingling. Its an
exhausting album to listen to. To my ears, it stands as the
greatest, raging Australian rocknroll album.

Au Go Go Records founder and In-fidelity
Records boss Bruce Milne

The Calling  The Hilltop
Hoods

Australian hip-hop is a funny beast. Since the late
80s it has struggled with its identity, cultural relevance
and with a music industry that didnt understand it. Then came
The Calling. The production values were top notch, the
flows were tight and the lyrics were local. Breakthrough song
The Nose Bleed Section not only announced an Oz music
classic but signalled the wayfor a new genre of Australian
music.

Musician Joel Ma

Last Ghost Train Home  Perry
Keyes

Perry Keyes is a Sydney-based singersongwriter
whose songs document the mud, the blood and the guts of inner
Sydney in realistic detail. His themes can apply to any large city
in the world: gentrification, social issues and the loss of
community. The Last Ghost Train Home is Perrys
second CD, and is a master class in songwriting and
performance.

Broadcaster Neil Rogers

The Bands Alright but the Singer is
Gulliver Smith  Gulliver Smith

The frontman for Company Caine recorded this
masterpiece with splashes of rock, jazz, soul, rnb,
pop, quirky intelligent lyrics, string orchestrations, one of the
most individual Australian recording artists ever.

Australian broadcaster Billy
Pinnell

Lovetown  Stephen
Cummings

Around the time he released his third solo album,
Stephen Cummings was dubbed the St Kilda Sinatra. A fair
description, though Cummings is a better songwriter.
Lovetown is the sound of Melbourne melancholia;
everything that you see is just a memory, Cummings
sings. Hes never made a bad album, but this is his
masterpiece.

Journalist Jeff Jenkins

Rose Tattoo  Rose
Tattoo

The definite swaggering rocknroll
statement from the band that was and is our answer to the dark
majesty of the Rolling Stones in all their roaring glory.

Journalist Murray
Engleheart

Prayers On Fire  The Birthday
Party

A way forward found. A shambling, lurching
behemoth, which was guttural and arty, embraced and ignored the
basic tenets of R.O.C.K and, best of all, made an unholy racket. At
time of release there was animosity from the powers that used to be
 thats rocknroll.

Missing Link records founder and journalist
Keith Glass

The Reels  the
Reels

The Reels changed my life. From the first night I
saw them on Countdown and went to the gig straight
afterwards, they enchanted me. So clever, so cutting and quite XTC
now I look back on it. The jerky new wave sounds and the image took
me in from day one.

Band booker Neil Wedd

Lists compiled by Patrick Donovan and Andrew
Murfett.To celebrate 50 years of rock, Warner Music Australia and
EG are giving away 50 copies of the new three-disc compilation
spanning five decades of Australian music. To win a copy send an
email with your name and address to eguide@theage.com.au

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